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Mofihli Thomas Likotsi is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2009. A former secretary-general of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), he represented the PAC in Parliament until September 2007, when he, with Themba Godi, crossed the floor to the African People's Convention (APC). Likotsi subsequently rejoined the PAC, but in 2019 he joined the African Transformation Movement (ATM).

Early life and career: 2004

During apartheid, Likotsi was an activist for the PAC in the former Orange Free State. At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997, a Security Branch police officer applied for amnesty for having assaulted Likotsi.

By the time of that hearing, Likotsi was chairman of the PAC in the post-apartheid Free State province. In subsequent years, he worked as a businessman and also represented the ANC as a local councillor in Bloemfontein. In August 2002, his office at the PAC's headquarters in Botshabelo were raided by the police, but it was not clear why. In June 2003, Likotsi was elected as national secretary-general of the PAC, serving alongside PAC president Motsoko Pheko and deputy president Themba Godi. In later years, he was considered a possible candidate to succeed Pheko as party president.

Legislative career: 2004–2009

In the 2004 general election, Likotsi was elected to a PAC seat in the National Assembly. During the 2007 floor-crossing window, his colleague in the PAC caucus, Themba Godi, announced that he had left the PAC in order to establish his own party, the APC. As media predicted, Likotsi announced the following day that he would follow Godi to the APC. He formally joined the party on 6 December 2007 and served the rest of the legislative term under the APC banner.

He left Parliament after the 2009 general election and subsequently returned to the PAC, running unsuccessfully for election on the PAC ticket in 2014. In 2019, he joined the ATM and ran unsuccessfully for election on the ATM ticket, ranked first on the party's regional list for the Free State.

References

1. ^ "Free State security policeman tells of torture and beatings". SAPA. 9 September 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
2. ^ "Police raid on PAC probed". News24. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
3. "Pheko to head PAC". News24. 15 June 2003. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
4. "Five-way race for PAC presidency". The Mail & Guardian. 11 August 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
5. "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
6. "Godi leaves PAC for African People's Convention". The Mail & Guardian. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
7. "Former PAC deputy head launches new political party". The Mail & Guardian. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
8. "PAC's Pheko denounces floor-crossing". The Mail & Guardian. 15 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
9. "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
10. "Thomas Likotsi". People's Assembly. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
11. "Mofihli Thomas Likotsi". People's Assembly. Retrieved 11 April 2023.

External links

• Thomas Likotsi at People's Assembly

• Mofihli Thomas Likotsi at People's Assembly

• Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2004–2009
• Living people
• 20th-century South African politicians
• African People's Convention politicians
• Pan Africanist Congress of Azania politicians
• African Transformation Movement politicians